Vol. 1, Ed. 48 — Wed Sep 30: Connecticut cannabis tax overhaul takes effect tomorrow

Connecticut's flat 10.75% cannabis tax and higher THC beverage limits take effect October 1; TTB opens Q3 CBMA import refund claims Thursday; Coors Distributing sues Constellation and Mark Anthony over terminations. For general information only — not legal advice.

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The NRBC Compliance Brief is a daily two-minute audio briefing on U.S. alcohol and hemp/THC regulation, covering federal agencies and all 50 states: TTB rulings and rulemaking, state alcohol authority actions, the federal hemp-ban timeline, THC-beverage rules, court decisions, taxes, tariffs, licensing, and enforcement. A new episode arrives every morning around 7 AM Eastern.

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This is the New Realm Compliance Brief, Volume one, Edition forty-eight, for Wednesday, September thirtieth.

Our top story: Connecticut's cannabis overhaul takes effect tomorrow, October first. The state is replacing its potency-based excise taxes with a flat ten point seven five percent tax on gross receipts — a combined rate at the register of about twenty point one percent once state sales tax and the municipal tax are added. The same law raises the limits for THC-infused beverages: package stores may now carry drinks with up to five milligrams of THC per container, and cannabis retailers up to ten milligrams — both up from the prior three-milligram cap. Connecticut also begins recognizing out-of-state medical cannabis cards and eliminates its seventy percent potency cap on concentrates. The state's fiscal office projects the tax change will trim revenue by about two million dollars a year.

On the federal side, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau reminded importers that third-quarter Craft Beverage Modernization Act refund claims may be filed starting Thursday, October first — a cash-flow date worth calendaring.

Around the states: in Colorado, Coors Distributing Company, owned by Molson Coors, filed civil lawsuits seeking to block brand terminations by Constellation Brands and Mark Anthony Brands, escalating last week's administrative challenge. And in California, Governor Newsom signed bills that mandate cannabis product testing, expand track and trace across the supply chain, and bar licensed tobacco retailers from selling cannabis.

On the radar: the delayed federal hemp ban now takes effect December eleventh, though the ban on synthetic cannabinoids still arrives November twelfth. And Virginia's cannabis authority is expected to open preliminary feedback on its draft retail rules in late October, with final rules due in December.

Full details and source links are in today's email. This update is for general information only — it is not legal advice.